MLB POSTSEASON PREDICTIONS

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Philadelphia Phillies-The Brewers make their first playoff appearance since 1982 and come in winning 6 of their last 7 games but will be without starter Ben Sheets. This is a huge loss for the Brew Crew because with him I think they win the first two games in this series with him teamed up with C.C. Sabathia. Since he isn't there I see the Phillies winning game 1 behind a strong performance from Cole Hamels. The Phillies bats in the postseason against Colorado were colder than Al Davis' balls last year but I think they will be much warmer and alive this year. Ryan Howard has been on fire in the past month and Chase Utley is ready to prove how great of a player he is on a big time stage. The Brewers win game 2 behind Sabathia but don't have enough pitching the rest of the way. I got the Phillies winning it in 4.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs-Call me crazy but I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the Dodgers sweeped this series. Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez have this team firing on all cylinders so to speak and I think the pitching match ups favor the Dodgers in the first two games and possible the third. Derek Lowe has playoff experience and is a proven commodity whereas Ryan Dempster basically came out of nowhere this year to earn a first game start in the playoffs. I'm not saying Dempster is due to fail but I think Lowe will be stronger in game 1 and Manny and Andre Ethier will feast off Dempster mistakes. It is true that the Dodgers have the worst road record and the Cubs have the best home record among playoff teams but remember we are still talking about the Cubbies here. I think Carlos Zambrano will have a meltdown in Game 2 and put the Cubs in 0-2 hole. Rich Harden will come back and win in LA but I think the Dodgers pitching will hold up and they will get some timely hitting from the middle of the order. I got the Dodgers taking it in 4 games.

Boston Red Sox vs. Anaheim Angels-The Red Sox absolutely own the Angels during playoff time but the Angels crushed the Red Sox throughout the 2008 season. The Angels wrapped up their division almost a month ago and have been set on cruise control for most of the season. I think it catches up to them in this series. The pitching match ups on paper look to favor the Red Sox since they played in a much tougher division than the Angels and as a staff put up some great numbers. Honestly I think who ever wins the first game will win the series but I am interested to see how the Sox look without Manny Ramirez in their lineup come playoff time. Sure, Jason Bay is good but he is not nearly as good as Manny, especially in clutch situations. I'm going with the Red Sox in the first two games because I think Jon Lester and Dice-K are both better than John Lackey and Ervin Santana at this moment in time. But I think the Angels will win the next two games in Boston as their bats will start to heat up. In the end though I think the Red Sox are the better overall team in terms of pitching and hitting and have the psychological advantage over the Angels especially when you see so many Red Sox chowderhead bandwagon douche bags hanging out in Anaheim cheering for their flavor of the decade. Red Sox win in 5 games.

Chicago White Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays-The White Sox managed to squeeze in to the playoffs with some clutch performances from two future HOFers in Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr. last night. The Rays managed to win the difficult AL East behind some great starting pitching and a lot of young players stepping up their game. I haven't been convinced all season that the White Sox are really that good of a team. I know the Rays are good. Forget about their past this team knows how to win games, especially close ones. I think overall the Rays have a much better team than the White Sox. Their confidence is really high and their young pitching with guys like Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir are ready to shine. As much as I would love and pull to see a class act like Griffey make a World Series appearance the only way he will be there is as a guest announcer. Tampa Bay Rays sweep in 3.